


Kiss Me Thru The Phone

by cromarty



Series: The Resolution [2]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: M/M, New Year's Resolutions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 01:43:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21128717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cromarty/pseuds/cromarty
Summary: Patrick's resolution plays out through the four seasons of the year.





	Kiss Me Thru The Phone

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the other story in this series on September 1 in about two hours, which is quicker than my usual process by… a lot. I was thinking about it today after reading all the lovely comments people left this week, and this happened, in almost the same amount of time from start to finish. Thanks Bea and [Redacted] for encouragement and suggestions. 
> 
> Title from Soulja Boy’s [song of the same name](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47Fbo4kU2AU). It’s maybe too light of a title for this piece, but it was what it was called from the second I first thought of writing it, and I couldn’t give it up.

On January 5th, David discovers upon waking at 5:45 in the morning that he has contracted a truly disgusting stomach flu. He spends the whole day vomiting and trembling and sipping Pedialyte and vomiting some more and feeling too terrible to even complain. Patrick keeps the store closed and buys the Pedialyte and wipes him down with wet washcloths and rubs his back gently. At 11:57, after a full 18 hours of this nightmare, David manages to keep down nine oyster crackers, and Patrick declares the worst over and leans in to kiss David’s sweaty forehead. 

“I love you,” David murmurs weakly, “but get the fuck away from me, I am not doing this for you when you get this tomorrow.” Patrick chuckles and leans in closer, aiming for David’s mouth this time. David manages to get a hand up between them, but he couldn’t really stop Patrick if he tried. “What are you _doing_, Patrick?!”

“I have to kiss you, David, I only have two minutes left. I can’t miss a day, it’s only been five days. That would be a totally pathetic run at a resolution.” Patrick is smiling wryly, but David is pretty sure he’s serious.

“You’re gross. I’m gross. I cannot believe I consented to marry you,” David sighs, but he doesn’t try to stop Patrick’s gentle ghost of a kiss over his lips.

“Sometimes, baby,” Patrick whispers, tucking David into his side so David can be warmer but still have access to the bucket on his side of the bed, “I can’t believe it either.”

***

In March, David goes to look for a vendor appointment in Patrick’s small leather planner and finds a neat row of Xs across the bottom of each day. From what he can tell, flipping through, there doesn’t seem to be a pattern. Some boxes have one, some have ten, a few have a single larger X, and they start in January and come all the way up to today. As he flips through, there’s actually a lot that just have the larger X. Valentine’s Day has three large Xs across the bottom, like the sign in the window of an adult video store. David closes the planner and slips back out through the curtain.

“Thursday at 11:15,” he confirms for Patrick as he enters it into his own phone. Patrick just hums his acknowledgment as he rings up Donna Murphy’s purchase and then waves at little Toby in his stroller until they’ve turned the corner. David can’t resist sidling up to his fiancé and leaning in, sliding an arm around Patrick’s waist and rubbing the grooves of his sensible brown braided belt.

“So, in your little planner,” David starts, resting his head on Patrick’s shoulder.

“Oh, do you mean my nice, organized planner where vendor appointments don’t mysteriously disappear?” Patrick pulls away so he can turn and blink up at David innocently. David keeps ahold of his belt loop, though, and tugs him back in close.

“Mmhmm, In your quaint, old fashioned little planner, I noticed you’ve started putting little marks on the days?”

“Oh.” Patrick blushes a bit, and now David _really_ wants to know the answer to what had been mostly an idle curiosity a minute ago. “I just, I wanted to keep track.”

“Of?” David prompts, using his hold on Patrick’s waist to rock him back and forth gently.

“My New Year’s resolution. I wanted to make sure I didn’t somehow accidentally miss a day.” Patrick smiles a small smile up at him, a little sheepish and shy, but mostly just happy.

“You’re keeping track of kissing me?” David can’t keep the smile off his own face. He loves how organized and into cataloguing details Patrick is, when it isn’t driving him crazy. He loves knowing that Patrick keeps track of vital data, and kissing David daily apparently counts as vital. David leans in to bring today’s tally up to an even 12.  
“But wait, why do some days have big Xs instead of lots of small ones?”

“Sometimes,” Patrick says, low and secret and a little bit too sexy for the workday behind the counter of their store, “I _lose count_.”

David smirks and leans back in to make him do just that, but they are, as usual, interrupted by the shopkeeper’s bell, and he reluctantly backs off and untangles his fingers from Patrick’s belt loops. 

***

In August, they get married, and most of the days in Patrick’s planner end up with large Xs, which makes David feel warm and smug when he flips through it. They manage to go on a small honeymoon, escaping to cottage country for five blissful days, and David triple-Xs all of them himself, after teasing Patrick for bringing his planner on their honeymoon at all.

“Hey,” Patrick says into his favorite spot on David’s neck, “a resolution is a promise to yourself, and to the universe, and I’m not breaking any promises I made this year, _ever_.” The planner gets dropped over the side of the bed after that, but David makes sure it doesn’t get left behind when they return to the store and really get started on married life.

With married life come a house, a slightly ramshackle but completely perfect one, still close enough to the center of town to walk when it’s nice, and with three bedrooms, so they can have an office with a large partner desk they can tangle their feet together under while they work, and so that David can have space for the clothing organization system he’s been designing with Ray for months. Unfortunately, their perfect house means that they can’t afford to close the store and both go when Patrick is asked to be in his college roommate’s wedding party. 

The night before he leaves for Toronto, they make spaghetti carbonara with peas, just the way David likes it, and eat it on the couch instead of at the table so that they can lean into each other and finish up a season of The Crown before Patrick has to go up and pack. When they finish, David loads the dishwasher as usual while Patrick packages up the leftovers. Instead of heading upstairs, though, Patrick puts the pasta in the fridge and then backs David up against the counter.

“What’s gotten into you, hmm?” David smirks, scratching through Patrick’s hair as Patrick mouths at his neck. Patrick leans up and kisses him, thoroughly, and for long enough that David’s almost forgotten he asked a question when Patrick pulls back to answer.

“I’m going to miss four whole days, I have to get my kisses in, in advance, so I don’t lose my streak.” He kisses David’s dimple, and his chin, and his mouth again and again, until they both have to take a second to breathe.

“Mmhmm, no I understand that,” David manages after a minute, “it just seems like it’s already been more than four? And maybe, not that I’m complaining, you should pack like you said you were going to, so we don’t have a repeat of the honeymoon chargers and underwear panic?”

“I can pack in the morning,” Patrick shrugs, and then leans in to nip at David’s ear. “And I don’t remember the lack of underwear being much of a problem, last time.” 

David laughs and lets Patrick pull him up the stairs to bank a few more kisses.

***

“Where are you?” David asks, fuzzy and confused. He had fallen asleep in front of the TV waiting for Patrick to finish the drive back from his parents’. He’d left early yesterday morning, too early for David, who had grumbled when Patrick woke him up to kiss him goodbye, so that he could get out to Pine Ridge by 10am and spend the day helping his dad put up the Christmas lights. He and David would be there for Christmas, and Clint hadn’t wanted Patrick to make the drive twice, but Marcy and Patrick were quietly worried about Clint being up on the ladder alone. Patrick had decided to run up for the weekend, just a quick 36 hour trip to do the heavy lifting and bring back one of Marcy’s pies for David. Patrick had called when he left their house, and David had been expecting him home by 10 or 10:30 tonight.

“David, listen, I’m still on the road,” Patrick says, his voice tight and stressed. “I had to route around this road closure and it’s taking me longer.”

“Okay, what time is it?” David looks at the TV for guidance but all it says is, “Are you still watching ‘The Great British Baking Show’?”

“It’s 11:30, already, and I’m not sure I’m going to make it in time, but I’m driving as fast as I can.”

“Whoa, in time for what? Did it snow up there? You shouldn’t be driving fast, Patrick.”  
David clears his throat and tries to wake up a little more. Patrick sounds upset, and he’s not sure why. Patrick’s been a bit upset all month, actually, but David thought that mostly had to do with how busy they were at the store. It had been a difficult October and November, with the ramp up to Christmas taking so much of their time and energy. David hadn’t even gotten to try the beautiful soaker tub they had given each other as an early Christmas present, and Ronnie had installed it almost two weeks ago.

“I just don’t know if I’m going to get there before midnight,” Patrick answers, and David can tell from the sound of his voice he’s clenching his jaw. 

“What happens at midnight, does something turn into a pumpkin?” David laughs a bit at his own joke, but Patrick doesn’t. “Patrick? Honey?”

“If I don’t get there….” David can hear Patrick take a frustrated breath. He sounds actually upset, truly upset, much more upset than David realized. “If I don’t get there,” Patrick starts again, “I won’t—I’ll miss a day, David.”

“You’ll miss a day? You mean a kiss? Honey, you’re not driving—how fast are you driving? Please slow down. Patrick?” 

“Fine,” Patrick sighs, “I’m going 90 now, okay?”

“Yes, thank you, I’d like you back here in one piece, please.” David hears Patrick scoff.  
“Honey, you know that I know that you love me even if we miss a day of your resolution, right?” David tries, in what he hopes is a soothing voice.

“Yes! I mean, of course, but I haven’t missed one, David! This entire year, you and I have only been apart four days, and I’ve never missed one, and I… I don’t want to miss one.” Patrick’s frustration seems to turn, a bit, into something less annoyed and more upset. “A resolution is—”

“A resolution is a promise to yourself and the universe, I remember. But you know you’re right, you haven’t missed one. We’ve stored up plenty of extra that can cover this one night, if we miss it.” David tries to untangle himself from the quilt Patrick’s grandmother made him that they keep on the couch, so he almost misses Patrick’s sniffle through the phone. “Honey?” he asks, even more concerned.

“I didn’t plan those to cover today, okay? Listen, I know it’s stupid, but I really don’t want to miss it,” Patrick tries to explain.

“It’s not stupid. I miss you, I want you to come home and kiss me, I want to be kissed by you every day of the rest of my life, Patrick. But you can’t speed home just so you can kiss me. What if something happened and I never got to kiss you again?”

“I know, I slowed down, I told you,” Patrick starts, but David cuts him off.

“My resolution was to love you, remember? Asking you to be careful _is_ me loving you. I just… is this actually about the resolution? It feels like it might not be totally about the resolution.” David keeps his voice light, but he hears Patrick sniffle again.

“I miss you. I see you every day, in the store, at home, and I miss you all the time, David. We’ve only been married four months and I feel like I’m terrible at it. We’re so busy and I’m so tired, and it’s great, of course it’s great that the store is so busy, this quarter is going to be so profitable, but I don’t want a profitable quarter if I’m too tired to try out our new bathtub! And I just… really miss you,” Patrick finishes, sounding slightly calmer having gotten that all out. 

“Where are you, Patrick?” David asks, his own voice a little bit thicker with tears.

“I just took the Elmdale exit, I should be there in a little while.” He sounds tired and sad and defeated.

“When you get home, come find me in the bathtub,” David says, climbing the stairs. “I love you, okay?”

“Okay. I love you.”

Patrick leans over the tub to kiss David at 11:58, and David is so happy to see him he almost pulls him in fully clothed. “You didn’t miss it,” he whispers.

“We didn’t miss it,” Patrick agrees, and starts pulling off his clothes.

“Mmm, maybe, once you get in here, we could stock up on some more, just in case we run into this problem again,” David says, and Patrick takes his hand to kiss his already pruney palm. 

“Maybe I should figure out the [magic number](http://m.mlb.com/glossary/advanced-stats/magic-number) for the end of the year so we can be absolutely sure,” Patrick laughs, already lighter with being home.

“I know from the tone of your voice that’s a baseball thing and I don’t even care, as long as it means you’re planning on kissing me at _least_ a hundred times in December,” David says.

“Oh, at _least_,” Patrick agrees, and climbs into the tub to get started.


End file.
